YEE HAW!

It was a scene from a Louis L'Amour novel: saddles, horses, cowboys, bright sunshine that fell with relentless heat over the rolling hills; such was the backdrop of our day in Morgan Utah. We hitched up our wagon and with the A/C blasting and movie playing we journeyed north to the Nelson Homestead for a day of horses and 4-wheelers!.

Espen with his phobia of all animals both larger and small that are not properly caged, like in a zoo, did not venture onto a horse, but decided the 4-wheelers were definitely his form of merriment! Mia was of the mind that she too could have had adventures right along side Laura Ingalls in that Little House on the Prairie. Sabrina and Spencer determined that Home on the Range would indeed be their cup of tea. Kenneth, thinking he may have to go by PA instead of Pappa now, went for a ride, adding yet another element in his ever changing persona: from a city slicker to a farmer/cowboy! YEE HAW!

Football is in the Air

Here we go again........ Football season is upon us and I am having a hard time wanting to get ESPN back onto our TV. We took it off after the Super Bowl just to give us all a bit of a break.
Spencer is a sports fanatic to put it mildly. He would arise early to watch Sports Center before getting ready for school, and then record it all day in case he missed something!! It will be an interesting fall to say the least! So look forward to some more football posts as that is what fills a good portion of our fall time plus Kenenth raking the leaves!

Even Kenneth has learned to appreciate the delights that are brought to one's self while playing with the pigskin (or in our case.......the Nerf football).

Renewing Old Friendships

While living in the shadows of Y-mountain, in the acclaimed Wymount apartments, our children began their first friendships. There was a dear family from Pakistan that lived down the same little side walk in Wymount. Providence was definitely on our side as they had 2 children exactly the same age as Spencer and Sabrina. Espen gained a little playmate as well, only 1 year apart. They finished school the same year we did, and moved back to Pakistan. Last Tuesday there was a knock on our door, and to our astonishment, there stood our beloved little Canon. They have moved back for obvious reasons, you just have to watch the news to see why! So Saturday night we had the children over to play. It was fun to see how even after 2 years, the children were back again to being great friends. We're so excited to see them and have them back in our lives.

Espen and Mia's Adventures

Every now and again Espen and Mia are able to enjoy just being with each other and play with their great imaginations. Mia started off in the mud first, Espen quickly joined her and they gave each other a mud wrap! Who needs to go to exclusive spas when all you have to do is wade through our pumpkin patch on irrigation day. During the clean up job, ideas began to flow through their minds like caramel sauce running down the top of a scoop of ice cream.

So it was on with the goggles, on with the hose and games began. I can't yet recall all of their imaginary play, I did hear the words, "He is the bad guy" and many sound effects that went along with the weapon of the day.....the garden hose. Espen has clearly inherited Kenneth's ability to make very believable sound effects, he was also a great sport in letting Mia get the better of him with the hose!

Green is the Color of the Day!

The surprising success of our garden has been so fun! The children just love to go and seek out what has flowered, what has actually things growing on them etc...

So I took one photo of our newest success! Our zuchinni and cucmber plants have grown so fast, I would have thought some wizard flew by and shot them with a growing spell......maybe skelegrow for plants! (Yes we're waiting for Harry Potter to come out with great anticipation) :)

A Great discovery today also was one little pumpkin in our pumpkin patch, there are a gazillion flowers, so we'll keep you posted on when more are found! Who ever thought finding hidden pirate treasure was all there was to search for.......finding little hidden vegge in our garden sends a ripple of pleasure straight to our hearts. I'll probably post more photos of our garden especially as we watch all our little green tomatoes grow and turn red!

So anyone with cucumber and zuchinni receipes....send them this way!

Mia's reaction is quick when I have the camera out.

Here Comes The Sun

I choose this title for our family blog for many reasons. Since we've been married, Kenneth has introduced me to the world of the John, Paul, George and Ringo! This is one of my favorite songs that they have written. It encompasses the way I feel about most things, just when you feel the dark clouds of life are too overwhelming, "Here comes the Sun!"

I felt this photo of our little Mia sums up the song as well.

Mor og Far, her er liten jente vaar. Hu elske aa ta bilde!

4th of July Weekend

This last weekend had it share of memorable moments. From my ultra sound to the 4th of July, our weekend encompassed an enormous amount of emotion! So I won't be like those games shows where you must wait with baited anticipation........the suspense is over, we're having.......another BOY. I would have scanned in some of the ultrasound photos, but to be honest, they weren't very good. I have definetly had better ultrasounds in my past. Do not fret, however, all was well with the baby (I think, if I didn't ask questions, I won't have known anything, the nurse wasn't the most talk-a-tive one I've ever had!). We came home with 6 baby blue balloons for all the kids!

July 4th started and ended with a bang! We all rushed around and made it to the parade with not a moment to spare. Of course I can't WOW or AMAZE you with any photos of the parade as I forgot the camera on my rush out the door! Mia was the highlight for us, she only waved to the local beauty queens in the parade!

We played football, frolic on the swings, jumped on the trampoline, had a water fight (which Allen lost with great dignity), ate and napped the rest of the day. My sister Megan and her family along with my brother Allen and his wife joined us, of course my parents are still here! In the evening we all waited with baited breath for the fireworks to start. Poor Sabrina was hard to console as we could hear the Jonas Brothers "rock" out the Stadium at the "Stadium of Fire"! The fireworks were all we'd hoped them to be, even after we thought they were over and went inside only to be rushed out again as we discovered them to start again!

Overall a great weekend!

Waiting for the Paint to Dry

Waiting for Grandparents to come is much like

watching paint dry. After the long wait, we heard those precious words: "They're Here!" My mom and dad are here to help celebrate the 4th of July. They drove down from Canada and stopped off at my sisters the day before. Spencer was fit to be tied most of the day, waiting and waiting and waiting! He finally said the quote of the day:

"Where are they? Why is it taking them so long to get here, they're not THAT OLD?"

With my sister and her husband coming to stay 2 nights with her 2 children it should be a house full of action and should be some great material for this blog in the days to come. Well it is on with the preparations for all of our festivities.

Although check back tomorrow, we have our ultrasound, exciting!!

A Rare Flower amongst the Roses

My dearest Sabrina decided since I had finally "upgraded" my camera, that is was high time for some quality shots of her amongst our humble little rose garden.

Sabrina is a lot like our little roses, she is beautiful, full of life and loves to blossom when the sun is shinning. If there is a tree, she'll climb it. If there is something new to eat, she'll try it (not like her brothers who won't come close to trying anything new, not even for a few George Washingtons). She is as independent as an Elizabeth Bennett with the imagination of an Anne Shirley.

She is 8 going on 18, some days I would like to tell Father Time to go on holiday and let her be this age forever. Mind you, since her uncle put her on his lap and let her "drive" through the church parking lot, she has been informing me of her exceptional ability to drive a car. "Why wait until I'm 16, I think I am ready now!"

Somehow I know that these next 8 years will take flight and be gone before I have a chance to put away the folded laundry.

And speaking of laundry, the thoughts of it are lingering in the back of my mind, trying to break through the muddle mess of 10,000 things passing through all at once. You mothers will know this phenomena, the thoughts of : What's for dinner? Where's my swim suit? Where's my favorite "pink" cup? That's whats for lunch? What do you mean we're not allowed to leave our Otter pop wrappers lying all around the house.....we have to eat those outside? Practise Piano....isn't it sunny outside? and so on and so on.

A little side note: A Happy Canada Day to all those in the Great White North. May the Raymond parade last more than 10 minutes, and may there be as much candy thrown, as there is at Halloween. :)